Sunday, December 18, 2011

Hide and Seek: This Week in the Book Pages

In the pages of The New Republic: The Book, Howard Markel reviews The Origin of AIDS(Cambridge University Press), by Jacques Pepin. Here's a taste:

Jacques Pepin, a professor of microbiology and infectious diseases at Canada’s Université de Sherbrooke, has tracked the HIV virus in sixteen African nations over the past three decades. He also possesses an encyclopedic command of the world’s literature on HIV/AIDS. Combining his vast experience and knowledge, Pepin has written a model study of epidemiology, microbiology, genetics, and social and cultural history.

Drawing on "a completely different archive than those far more familiar to most historical scholars," including "vast collections of blood samples" from the '50s, '70s, and '80s, Pepin shows how the disease was originally transmitted and spread. Read more here.

Also in TNR:

Eric Posner reviews Unpopular Privacy: What Must We Hide?(Oxford University Press), by law and philosophy professor Anita Allen. In Posner's words,
the book argues "that people do not care enough about their privacy,
and that, in limited circumstances, the government should force people
to keep information private that they would rather disclose."

Samuel Helfont reviews Awakening Islam: The Politics of Religious Dissent in Contemporary Saudi Arabia (Harvard University Press), by French political scientist Stéphane Lacroix. "If the history of Saudi Arabia teaches anything," Helfont concludes, "it is that Western social scientists often miss the mark when assessing where the Middle East is headed. While it would be tempting to assume that the Saudi monarchy will fade into the ancient sands of the Arabian Peninsula, destined to be replaced by a more modern and democratic state, it would be incredibly dangerous to do so.

In the book pages of the Washington Post, Joyce Appleby reviews American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America (Simon & Schuster), by David O. Stewart. Appleby praises Stewart's ability to "convey[] the restlessness, resentment and unmoored fancies that prevailed among the men who had gone west to make their fortune while France, England and Spain continued to jockey for position in the New World." Regarding Burr's famous treason trial, Appleby notes that "Stewart makes a convincing case for Burr’s guilt." Read on here.